October 2019

As you may recall, our first major snowstorm of the season was on September 30th. It was a good thing we decided to be conservative and close the guesthouse to renters starting October 1, because the storm was a doozy! And we had THREE MORE significant snowfalls throughout the month. Thankfully the snow completely melted between each storm, but October definitely wasn't the mild month we had been hoping for and definitely seemed way too soon to start up winter already. As a result, much of the month was spent doing indoor activities like...


...reading...

...baking...

...cooking (and more reading)...

...and relaxing.

In between snowfalls, the major project of the month was FIRE MITIGATION.  We got a grant from the state for a tree service to thin our underbrush, which is a huge relief since that fire in August was right in our neighborhood and way too close for comfort.  And as a bonus, we got to keep the wood for next winter's heat, and the grant also paid for us to rent a chipper to make garden mulch from the branches.  Win win!

starting to mulch after the thinning

safety first!

 

loud but kind of pretty

The other project of the month was finishing up the snow fencing. We put in some fences at the end of summer and thought we had plenty of time to put up the snow block material, but clearly the urgency increased quickly this month. At least our two outdoor cats kept us entertained while we worked!

We'll see what sort of weather surprise November has in store for us, but at least we're a little more prepared for winter now than we were a month ago!